Cultural Sharing & Indigenous Wisdom

“Building balanced foundations, healthy ways of being and a strong sense of connection through inclusive sharing & learning.

Cultural sharing reveals the necessary connections between Indigenous knowledge and modern ideas. Understanding these connections, methodologies and original ways of being increase the potential for sustainability to be enhanced on many levels.

It’s important to recognise that we are all part of a greater Eco system, part of an environmental landscape that has much to inform us with. If we can become aware of this, cultivate a relationship with how we interact with this and base our actions accordingly to the environment in which we live, we can then contribute to the overall health and balance of our immediate environment.

This way of knowing & being also translates to our personal lives, our interactions with community, how we engage in our immediate environmental landscape. In partnerships, in teams, in leadership, in education and in that of community. From the natural world to the systemic constructs of society we can better navigate through having a relational awareness and apply the necessary actions accordingly.

An eco systems whole function is to maintain balance within continual growth. As humans, we can uncover our part in the KINship and better understand how to exist within the rhythms of the eco system.

This is the wisdom that the first peoples embody, a living breathing knowledge of custodianship, of a way of being (Lore) with and within that has holistic foundations underpinned by thousands of years of lived experience and understanding.

All of our Ancestry no matter our original heritage embodies this wisdom, yet if we have cultivated ourselves to live above and separate from the biodiversity of the natural world, then we are responsible for contributing to the imbalances that presently exist and solutions can seem unattainable.

Through sharing via Indigenous Wisdom, we aim to bring out that which is already within each person. To guide and support, to strengthen connections and the ability to relate.

Re-engaging traditional practices for people to learn about ecology and craft

Sharing Indigenous Wisdom to engage community in better understanding people, place & relationship

Cooperating to enhance understanding while uncovering our connections

Support for Teachers with Indigenous topics

We facilitate professional development days in which Teachers can better understand and relate to the Indigenous content within the current curriculum. This is not just a theoretical understanding, yet an opportunity to engage with local Indigenous educators and expand on what the teacher may know or believe to be true information. We assist with planning out lessons and keeping content rich and true to the environment of which each school is based. The workshops are informative, fun and can be healing as each teacher is enabled to embrace a diverse and rich Indigenous heritage. We safely have the cultural conversation that precedes the current history and show ways of connecting the dots to their heritage and current knowledge base.

We also acknowledge that many teachers may have had experience working with Indigenous populations and within communities and may well have rich content to share also. The more we all share, the more we can better flourish together and enrich a students experience of learning!

Using Storytelling, Song and Art to impart Wisdom and reveal deep knowing

Storytelling is the means by which teachings have been imparted for thousands of generations. Through story we engage people’s imaginations with metaphors, share moral teachings and expose histories and ways of being in a manner that is comfortable and safe for all involved. Stories when shared invite conversation and inspire other ways of seeing. Together we expand our knowledge base and bring deeper meaning to not only hearing the story, though also the experience of a deeper listening and embodiment of the story as we relate to it within ourselves.

Art is shared in a manner that reveals the use of symbols and communication between people, their dreaming and the land. Art in an educational setting is used to share knowledge and to provide a tool for people to tell a story of their own, to map out landscapes and to begin to make sense of their environment visually. We use art to nurture and to utilise creative processes as a means to generating awareness. The physical action in itself helps us all create greater understanding together.

Song is a means in which one can feel into the language of the landscape. All songs in Indigenous ways of knowing, are rich with information. Songs are maps as well as historical records of landscape. Songs also carry instructions as to ways in which we can create something. Sharing song through the use of local languages can assist people in relating and generate connection in ways that have not been felt before. Many Indigenous languages are at risk of becoming extinct, to share language in an inclusive manner means that we all partake in keeping the spirit of place alive and strong!

“Storytelling, art and song are creative processes that allow for communication, connection and understanding to occur. By being guided through an indigenous lens by indigenous peoples, Children and adults alike go through an inner process of reconciliation.

I believe that by making the choice to actively participate healing may occur within. Our shared histories are navigated in a manner that allows for growth and regeneration to be initiated.

The sharing looks at a timeline before the arrival of the Captain Cook, after the arrival and during colonisation and we stand at our current point in history. It’s important to share in this way, so the young and older generations have a clear and a more accurate picture of the truth of our nation. In this way people can decide and have opinions with a holistic viewpoint as opposed to one based on incomplete truths. I feel it is important that we can reflect and grow together, respect our differences, yet acknowledge and face the truth. Perhaps then we can be anabled to progress as multicultural peoples sharing the one continant!” Rachel Shields

Lets begin to see and understand how we can better live within the environment we are part of.

Earth Art for sharing story within living landscapes

Please contact Rachel Shields for further details about how to book a session with your organisation or school.

Email: knowinginnature@gmail.com Phone: 044 772 9986

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The text on this website represents the experiences and the understanding of the author and is not to be used to generalize, nor is it indicative of the First Peoples of Australia. There are many cultural territories within Australia and many ways of being from traditional to contemporary.

Each descendant of the First Peoples has their own unique way of expressing and sharing their cultural connection.